1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle support rack for support of vehicles, especially automobiles, small trucks and the like, upon which frame and/or unibody straightening repairs are to be made. The invention further includes a support and lift assembly for a vehicle body/frame reference point measuring jig to be mounted from the rack and vertically adjusted relative thereto, laser beam plane generating structure adjustably supported from the jig for generating either a vertical laser beam plane or a horizontal laser beam plane parallel to a center longitudinal datum line determined by the jig, and a hand-held measuring probe to be used in conjunction with the generated laser beam plane for measuring vehicle reference point distances relative to a datum line or plane.
2. Description of Related Art
Various different forms of support racks and accessories therefor to be used in checking specific measuring points of a vehicle frame and/or a unibody heretofore have been provided, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,712,417, 4,932,236, 5,027,639, 5,199,289 and 5,239,854. In addition, a measuring probe of the general type disclosed in the instant application is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,590.
The probe disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,590 has been modified by providing the free end of the wand thereof with a vehicle body point contacting member, by providing the probe with a digital readout display mounted upon the probe itself and including memory capability, and by adapting the probe for battery operation thus making it fully portable.